Carolyn Hart's Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity Award-winning mystery series, Death on Demand, has long been a readers' favorite, with its richly evoked Southern atmosphere, ticklish wit, wildly eccentric characters, perplexing puzzles, and the most endearing pair of married sleuths since Nick and Nora Charles. Now the investigative efforts of Annie and Max Darling soar to a breathtaking new level, with a delightfully unexpected whodunit that's as sumptuous as a holiday dessert.

Sugarplum Dead

It's getting to look a lot like Christmas on the sea island of Broward's Rock, South Carolina. At the popular Death on Demand mystery bookstore, owner Annie Darling's energetic Yuletide preparations have to be put on hold thanks to several rather inconvenient distractions--including a slew of family woes ... and murder.

Annie's mother-in-law Laurel -- not normally the straightest of arrows anyway -- has taken to chatting up ghosts in the local graveyard. Across the island in a spacious, spooky mansion, ancient onetime movie star Marguerite Dumaney Ladson has called together all her living kin and their multitude of exes for her gala combination Xmas/birthday bash. Among the honored guests are two that Annie could well do without: her errant father, whom she hasn't seen in twenty five years, and Dr. Emory Swanson, Laurel's guide down "The Golden Path."

Like Laurel, wealthy old Rita Dumaney Ladson has fallen for Swanson's new-age-pseudo-occult gobbledygook. The question is: how are the gathered relatives going to react to the grande dame's announcement that she's leaving her fortune to the charismatic charlatan's Evermore Foundation? Not well, apparently, since a murder follows right on the heels of Rita's shocking revelation. And the finger of suspicion seems to be pointing straight at Annie Darling's recently arrived deadbeat dad.

Annie can feel no loyalty toward the father she's never really known, but she doesn't believe for a minute he's guilty. And when a second murder puts her conflicted emotions into an even more chaotic tailspin, Annie realizes that she will need all the help her easy-going PI. husband Max can offer to solve a related pair of homicides. Because, in this season of giving, fate is giving her more major headaches -- and a killer is giving her more corpses -- than even the normally unflappable Annie Darling may be able to handle.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

In this 12th Death on Demand adventure, Anthony and Agatha award-winner Hart uses a couple of reliable mystery devices to serve up a story as entertaining as any in this deservedly popular series. The first of these is the perennial fake psychic, here handsome charmer Emory Swanson, who comes to Broward's Rock Island to establish the Evermore Foundation, where individualsDparticularly rich, older womenDcan get in touch with their dearly departed. One of Swanson's unsuspecting devot es is retired movie star Marguerite Dumaney. She's still glamorous, still imperious, and ready to sign over her fortune to the foundation, though her many needy relatives have other ideas for her money. While any of them might be desperate enough to kill Marguerite, it's Happy, her aptly named sister, who is murdered. Annie Darling, proprietor of the Death on Demand Mystery Book Store, enters the picture when her long-absent father, who turns out to be Happy's ex-husband, appears. Annie, ably assisted by husband Max, has to clear her father and stepsister of suspicion, while she simultaneously searches for the real culprit. The evidence surrounding a second murder points to the man they all love to hate: Swanson. Or is he too obvious? Another classic story twist resolves matters in a fully satisfying finale. Hart, who's also the author of the Henrie O series (Death in Paradise, etc.), knits a tidy plot, though the cute descriptions of Max and Annie's cat, Agatha, may be too cloying for some. The insider view of the mystery bookstore world remains a special draw. (Nov.) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

The catalytic agent in Hart's latest series addition (White Elephant Dead) is "Pudge" Laurence, the long-lost father of bookstore-owner and village sleuth Annie Laurence Darling. At the behest of a famous actress, Pudge is visiting Broward's Island, SC, where a financially slippery purveyor of crystals and otherworldly contacts creates problems for both families; the actress and Annie's mother-in-law seem enamored of his ways. Annie must tread a fine line, then: she tries to help her mother-in-law while circumventing her unwanted father. An charismatic characterization, the familiar island, and an excellent plot that is nicely knit together make this an essential purchase. Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Most helpful customer reviews

After having read -- and been annoyed by -- three previous entries in this series, I had sworn I'd never read another Death On Demand mystery. But I was intrigued enough by some of the reviews of this book to give it a whirl. And it is in many ways much, much better than some of the other Carolyn Hart books I've tried.I have never felt like I was being given a chance to really KNOW the sleuths, Annie and Max. In previous books, the author kept stepping between me and them and insisting on how I should think -- "Annie is like THIS. Max is like THAT." In the end, I was told so much that I should have been shown, that I felt nothing for the sleuths at all. Hart still interferes, insisting on character traits she should be demonstrating, and there is far too much about what Max and Annie look like, as opposed to what they are like. But Annie's concern for a teenage girl comes through pretty well, and I found myself believing it. Likewise, her reluctant feelings for her estranged father eventually became believable when Hart stopped insisting.I didn't buy the estranged father's excuses for why he'd been gone so long any more than some other reviewers have. If you really, really want to know where your child is, and only one person on earth can help you, you go to that person and make a nuisance of yourself. You don't phone and write a few times and then give up. This element of the plot was thin. Max's behaviour ("You think YOUR dad was bad? Let me tell you about MINE!") is insensitive, and I would have been more convinced if the lovebirds had had a knock-down fight over it, with a suitable reconciliation later. Hart, however, does not seem interested in delving very deeply into this relationship, and to that extent she leaves her sleuths as two pretty, but rather empty, shells.Read more ›

First off, this book was definitely interesting, and could hold my attention, but it wasn't great.It took over 160 pages for anyone to get murdered, so you had to read about relationships and romance. Relationships between the main-character (Annie Darling) and her estranged father, Annie and her estranged step-sister, etc. Once someone does get killed it becomes somewhat boring. I knew who the killer was from the beginning. Also, the whole mystery is somewhat cliched. I do think the author is a good writer, and has potential to succeed, just not with this book.As for the plot, Annie Darling runs Death On Demand, a mystery bookstore. Annie's father (Pudge) and step-sister (Rachel) find her and soon Annie is swept into a spooky mansion filled with murder, hatred and deceit. Once Happy (Rachel's mother) gets murdered, Annie is determined to get her father off the hook, and solve the case.Overall, this wasn't a horrible book, but if you're looking for a great holiday mystery try some by Valerie Wolzien.

I usually enjoy Carolyn Hart mysteries. They are easy to read and enjoyable. There is not a lot of angst or great horror. This one lived up to my expectations in some regards, yet was a disspointment in others.First the positive: I like the mystery itself. I thought the ending was different than many authors would have used. I liked that. The characters are continuations of ones in her previous books and yet this book can stand on it's own. As always her mother in law is funny and offers a sence of the ridiculous for a reason. I appreciate that. I also appreciated that Annie did forgive her dad to a degree and try to get to know him now. At some point we all have to make that decision to move on or to dwell on the past. I think this was handled well. It wasn't the main story and therefore not a lot of time was devoted to this theme, which I think might dissapoint some readers.The negative: The only unrealistic thing about this book was all of a sudden seeing your dad and finding out you had a step sister on this small island where everyone knows everyone. If the island had been bigger it might have worked. However, it just seems inconceivable to me that not once would Annie have seen this girl or known the connection she had to this girl. However, as I stated, this is not the main part of the story and is easily overlooked.I enjoyed this book. It was not my most favorite Carolyn Hart book, but it was good. I'm not sorry I read it.

I've picked up Hart's mysteries before and enjoyed them for what they are worth...very light mysteries, with unsubstantial plots and not very 'deeply-drawn' characters. This one was probably the least enjoyable I've read, and since I like my books a little more realistic and with more substance and good writing, I doubt I will be back to this particular author.Hart means well, and I know she has a big following. But as another reviewer has mentioned, Hart really expects the reader to swallow a very poorly written and poorly plotted reason for the female protagonist's father for being missing in her life, and then gives an improbable reason for him showing up again, along with a step-sister she didn't know existed? Not only that but she had this sister apparently living on the island too? And when she sees the girl, she recognizes familial facial features?This island is a place where most people know each other except during tourist season, yet there seems to be a young doppelganger on the island with features similar to Annie's?Sorry, doesn't make sense to me...I had no problems figuring out who the probable suspect was, since there were too many obvious suspects, and I took a violent dislike to the character immediately. A mystery is a good one for me that retains a little of the 'mystery' until the very end! Once again, I felt that this was a case of an author getting too familiar with her characters, too comfortable with her audience, and she just rattled off the book as fast as possible.I am sure my review won't discourage those who are enamored of this type of light reading. Not enough literary skill or 'meat' for my taste.Karen Sadler,University of Pittsburgh